Digital Commons Network^™

Significant Sequelae After Bacterial Meningitis In Niger: A Cohort Study, Jean-François Jusot, Zilahatou Tohon, Abdoul Aziz Yazi, Jean-Marc Collard

Epidemiology and Environmental Health Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Beside high mortality, acute bacterial meningitis may lead to a high frequency of neuropsychological sequelae. The Sahelian countries belonging to the meningitis belt experience approximately 50% of the meningitis cases occurring in the world. Studies in Africa have shown that N. meningitidis could cause hearing loss in up to 30% of the cases, exceeding sometimes measles. The situation is similar in Niger which experiences yearly meningitis epidemics and where rehabilitation wards are rare and hearing aids remain unaffordable. The aim of this study was to estimate the frequency of neuropsychological sequelae after acute bacterial meningitis in four of the …

The Human Brain Processes Syntax In The Absence Of Conscious Awareness., Laura Batterink, Helen J Neville

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Syntax is the core computational component of language. A longstanding idea about syntactic processing is that it is generally not available to conscious access, operating autonomously and automatically. However, there is little direct neurocognitive evidence on this issue. By measuring event-related potentials while human observers performed a novel cross-modal distraction task, we demonstrated that syntactic violations that were not consciously detected nonetheless produced a characteristic early neural response pattern, and also significantly delayed reaction times to a concurrent task. This early neural response was distinct from later neural activity that was observed only to syntactic violations that were consciously detected. …

An Ehealth System Supporting Palliative Care For Patients With Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Randomized Trial, David H. Gustafson, Lori L. Dubenske, Kang Namkoong, Robert Hawkins, Ming-Yuan Chih, Amy K. Atwood, Roberta Johnson, Abhik Bhattacharya, Cindy L. Carmack, Anne M. Traynor, Toby C. Campbell, Mary K. Buss, Ramaswamy Govindan, Joan H. Schiller, James F. Cleary

Community & Leadership Development Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: In this study, the authors examined the effectiveness of an online support system (Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System [CHESS]) versus the Internet in relieving physical symptom distress in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

METHODS: In total, 285 informal caregiver-patient dyads were assigned randomly to receive, for up to 25 months, standard care plus training on and access to either use of the Internet and a list of Internet sites about lung cancer (the Internet arm) or CHESS (the CHESS arm). Caregivers agreed to use CHESS or the Internet and to complete bimonthly surveys; for patients, these tasks …

A Systematic Review Of Ptsd Prevalence And Trajectories In Dsm-5 Defined Trauma Exposed Populations: Intentional And Non-Intentional Traumatic Events, Patcho N. Santiago, Robert J. Ursano, Christine L. Gray, Robert S. Pynoos, David Spiegel, Roberto Lewis-Fernandez, Matthew Friedman, Carol S. Fullerton

Dartmouth Scholarship

Objective: We conducted a systematic review of the literature to explore the longitudinal course of PTSD in DSM-5-defined trauma exposed populations to identify the course of illness and recovery for individuals and populations experiencing PTSD.

Methods: We reviewed the published literature from January 1, 1998 to December 31, 2010 for longitudinal studies of directly exposed trauma populations in order to: (1) review rates of PTSD in the first year after a traumatic event; (2) examine potential types of proposed DSM-5 direct trauma exposure (intentional and non-intentional); and (3) identify the clinical course of PTSD (early onset, later onset, chronicity, remission, …

Geographic Variation In Chin Shape Challenges The Universal Facial Attractiveness Hypothesis, Zaneta M. Thayer, Seth D. Dobson

Dartmouth Scholarship

The universal facial attractiveness (UFA) hypothesis proposes that some facial features are universally preferred because they are reliable signals of mate quality. The primary evidence for this hypothesis comes from cross-cultural studies of perceived attractiveness. However, these studies do not directly address patterns of morphological variation at the population level. An unanswered question is therefore: Are universally preferred facial phenotypes geographically invariant, as the UFA hypothesis implies? The purpose of our study is to evaluate this often overlooked aspect of the UFA hypothesis by examining patterns of geographic variation in chin shape. We collected symphyseal outlines from 180 recent human …

Neuroinflammation And Psychiatric Illness, Souhel Najjar, Daniel M. Pearlman, Kenneth Alper, Amanda Najjar, Orrin Devinsky

Dartmouth Scholarship

Multiple lines of evidence support the pathogenic role of neuroinflammation in psychiatric illness. While systemic autoimmune diseases are well-documented causes of neuropsychiatric disorders, synaptic autoimmune encephalitides with psychotic symptoms often go under-recognized. Parallel to the link between psychiatric symptoms and autoimmunity in autoimmune diseases, neuroimmunological abnormalities occur in classical psychiatric disorders (for example, major depressive, bipolar, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorders). Investigations into the pathophysiology of these conditions traditionally stressed dysregulation of the glutamatergic and monoaminergic systems, but the mechanisms causing these neurotransmitter abnormalities remained elusive. We review the link between autoimmunity and neuropsychiatric disorders, and the human and experimental evidence …

Humans And Dolphins: An Exploration Of Anthropocentrism In Applied Environmental Ethics, Thomas I. White

Management Faculty Works

This article argues that one of the reasons that the unethical character of much human-dolphin contact is not more apparent to ethicists is that discussion of central issues has been colored with unintentional species bias. This article points out weaknesses in the traditional approach to discussing topics that bear on the question of whether dolphins have moral standing. It demonstrates that discussions of the cognitive abilities of dolphins by Steven Wise and Alasdair MacIntyre are unintentionally but fundamentally anthropocentric-largely because the authors are not familiar with enough of the scientific literature about dolphins to draw the conclusions that they do.

Effectiveness Of A Motivational Interviewing Intervention On Weight Loss, Physical Activity And Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors: A Randomised Controlled Trial With A 12-Month Post-Intervention Follow-Up., Sarah J. Hardcastle, Adrian H. Taylor, Martin P. Bailey, Robert A. Harley, Martin S. Hagger

Peninsula Medical School

BACKGROUND: Intensive diet and physical activity interventions have been found to reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, but are resource intensive. The American Heart Association recently recommended motivational interviewing (MI) as an effective approach for low-intensity interventions to promote health-related outcomes such as weight loss. However, there is limited research evaluating the long-term effectiveness of MI-based interventions on health-related outcomes associated with CVD risk. The current research evaluated the effectiveness of a six-month low-intensity MI intervention in a UK primary-care setting in maintaining reductions in CVD risk factors at12 months post-intervention. METHODS: Primary-care patients were randomised to an intervention group that …

Using Online Adverts To Increase The Uptake Of Cervical Screening Amongst "Real Eastenders": An Opportunistic Controlled Trial., Ray B. Jones, Mar Soler-Lopez, Daniel Zahra, Judith Shankleman, Esther Trenchard-Mabere

School of Nursing and Midwifery

BACKGROUND: Cervical screening uptake has increased as a result of occurrences of cervical cancer in TV 'soap operas' and in real life celebrities such as Jade Goody. Media analysis at the time of Jade Goody's death suggested the NHS did not take sufficient advantage of this opportunity to improve cervical screening rates. Google AdWords has been used to recruit and raise awareness of health but we were not aware of its use to supplement media events. METHODS: This was an opportunistic service evaluation to accompany a cervical cancer storyline in Eastenders (a TV 'soap opera'). We ran an AdWords campaign …

Awareness And Beliefs Regarding Intimate Partner Violence Among First-Year Dental Students, Rhonda J. Everett, Karl Kingsley, Christina A. Demopoulos, Edward E. Herschaft, Christine Lamun, Sheniz Moonie, Timothy J. Bungum, Michelle Chino

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

Intimate partner violence (IPV) may affect one to four million individuals per year in the United States, with women accounting for the majority of both reported and unreported cases. Dental professionals are in a unique position to identify many types of IPV because injuries to the head and neck may be indicators or predictors of IPV abuse. Fewer than half of dental programs surveyed have reported having IPV-specific curricula, and most dental students surveyed have reported having little experience or training to recognize IPV. Based on this information, this pilot study sought to assess the awareness and beliefs regarding IPV …

Melanopsin, Photosensitive Ganglion Cells, And Seasonal Affective Disorder., Kathryn A Roecklein, Patricia M Wong, Megan A Miller, Shannon D Donofry, Marissa L Kamarck, George C Brainard

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

In two recent reports, melanopsin gene variations were associated with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and in changes in the timing of sleep and activity in healthy individuals. New studies have deepened our understanding of the retinohypothalamic tract, which translates environmental light received by the retina into neural signals sent to a set of nonvisual nuclei in the brain that are responsible for functions other than sight including circadian, neuroendocrine and neurobehavioral regulation. Because this pathway mediates seasonal changes in physiology, behavior, and mood, individual variations in the pathway may explain why approximately 1-2% of the North American population develops mood …

Implicitly Priming The Social Brain: Failure To Find Neural Effects, Katherine E. Powers, Todd F. Heatherton

Dartmouth Scholarship

Humans have a fundamental need for social relationships. Rejection from social groups is especially detrimental, rendering the ability to detect threats to social relationships and respond in adaptive ways critical. Indeed, previous research has shown that experiencing social rejection alters the processing of subsequent social cues in a variety of socially affiliative and avoidant ways. Because social perception and cognition occurs spontaneously and automatically, detecting threats to social relationships may occur without conscious awareness or control. Here, we investigated the automaticity of social threat detection by examining how implicit primes affect neural responses to social stimuli. However, despite using a …

Adjunctive Atypical Antipsychotic Treatment For Major Depressive Disorder: A Meta-Analysis Of Depression, Quality Of Life, And Safety Outcomes, Glen I. Spielmans, Margit I. Berman, Eftihia Linardatos, Nicholas. Z. Rosenlicht

Dartmouth Scholarship

Atypical antipsychotic medications are widely prescribed for the adjunctive treatment of depression, yet their total risk-benefit profile is not well understood. We thus conducted a systematic review of the efficacy and safety profiles of atypical antipsychotic medications used for the adjunctive treatment of depression.

Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention For Substance Craving., Katie Witkiewitz, Sarah Bowen, Haley Douglas, Sharon H Hsu

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Craving, defined as the subjective experience of an urge or desire to use substances, has been identified in clinical, laboratory, and preclinical studies as a significant predictor of substance use, substance use disorder, and relapse following treatment for a substance use disorder. Various models of craving have been proposed from biological, cognitive, and/or affective perspectives, and, collectively, these models of craving have informed the research and treatment of addictive behaviors. In this article we discuss craving from a mindfulness perspective, and specifically how mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP) may be effective in reducing substance craving. We present secondary analyses of data …

Confronting Myths About Household Food Insecurity And Excess Weight, Edward A. Frongillo Jr.

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Association Of Impaired Linear Growth And Worse Neurodevelopmental Outcome In Infants With Single Ventricle Physiology: A Report From The Pediatric Heart Network Infant Single Ventricle Trial., Chitra Ravishankar, Victor Zak, Ismee A. Williams, David C. Bellinger, J William Gaynor, Nancy S. Ghanayem, Catherine D. Krawczeski, Daniel J. Licht, Lynn Mahony, Jane W. Newburger, Victoria L. Pemberton, Richard V. Williams, Renee Sananes, Amanda L. Cook, Teresa Atz, Svetlana Khaikin, Daphne T. Hsu, Pediatric Heart Network Investigators, Girish S. Shirali

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

OBJECTIVES: To describe neurodevelopmental outcomes in infants with single ventricle (SV) physiology and determine factors associated with worse outcomes.

STUDY DESIGN: Neurodevelopmental outcomes for infants with SV enrolled in a multicenter drug trial were assessed at 14 months of age using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II. Multivariable regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with worse outcomes.

RESULTS: Neurodevelopmental testing was performed at 14 ± 1 months in 170/185 subjects in the trial. Hypoplastic left heart syndrome was present in 59% and 75% had undergone the Norwood operation. Mean Psychomotor Developmental Index (PDI) and mental developmental index (MDI) …

Weight Stigma In Maternity Care: Women’S Experiences And Care Providers’ Attitudes, Kate Mulherin, Yvette D. Miller, Fiona Kate Barlow, Phillippa C. Diedrichs, Rachel Thompson

Dartmouth Scholarship

Weight stigma is pervasive in Western society and in healthcare settings, and has a negative impact on victims' psychological and physical health. In the context of an increasing focus on the management of overweight and obese women during and after pregnancy in research and clinical practice, the current studies aimed to examine the presence of weight stigma in maternity care. Addressing previous limitations in the weight stigma literature, this paper quantitatively explores the presence of weight stigma from both patient and care provider perspectives. Study One investigated associations between pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and experiences of maternity care from …

Hd-Cnv: Hotspot Detector For Copy Number Variants., Jenna L Butler, Marjorie Elizabeth Osborne Locke, Kathleen A Hill, Mark Daley

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

SUMMARY: Copy number variants (CNVs) are a major source of genetic variation. Comparing CNVs between samples is important in elucidating their potential effects in a wide variety of biological contexts. HD-CNV (hotspot detector for copy number variants) is a tool for downstream analysis of previously identified CNV regions from multiple samples, and it detects recurrent regions by finding cliques in an interval graph generated from the input. It creates a unique graphical representation of the data, as well as summary spreadsheets and UCSC (University of California, Santa Cruz) Genome Browser track files. The interval graph, when viewed with other software …

Synchronous And Asynchronous Theta And Gamma Activity During Episodic Memory Formation., John F Burke, Kareem A Zaghloul, Joshua Jacobs, Ryan B Williams, Michael R Sperling, Ashwini D Sharan, Michael J Kahana

Department of Neuroscience Faculty Papers

To test the hypothesis that neural oscillations synchronize to mediate memory encoding, we analyzed electrocorticographic recordings taken as 68 human neurosurgical patients studied and subsequently recalled lists of common words. To the extent that changes in spectral power reflect synchronous oscillations, we would expect those power changes to be accompanied by increases in phase synchrony between the region of interest and neighboring brain areas. Contrary to the hypothesized role of synchronous gamma oscillations in memory formation, we found that many key regions that showed power increases during successful memory encoding also exhibited decreases in global synchrony. Similarly, cortical theta activity …

Impulsivity And Self-Control During Intertemporal Decision Making Linked To The Neural Dynamics Of Reward Value Representation, Koji Jimura, Maria S. Chushak, Todd S. Braver

Open Access Publications

A characteristic marker of impulsive decision making is the discounting of delayed rewards, demonstrated via choice preferences and choice-related brain activity. However, delay discounting may also arise from how subjective reward value is dynamically represented in the brain when anticipating an upcoming chosen reward. In the current study, brain activity was continuously monitored as human participants freely selected an immediate or delayed primary liquid reward and then waited for the specified delay before consuming it. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) exhibited a characteristic pattern of activity dynamics during the delay period, as well as modulation during choice, that is consistent …

Predictors Of The Change In The Expression Of Emotional Support Within An Online Breast Cancer Support Group: A Longitudinal Study, Woohyun Yoo, Ming-Yuan Chih, Min-Woo Kwon, Junghwan Yang, Eunji Cho, Bryan Mclaughlin, Kang Namkoong, Dhavan V. Shah, David H. Gustafson

Community & Leadership Development Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVES: To explore how the expression of emotional support in an online breast cancer support group changes over time, and what factors predict this pattern of change.

METHODS: We conducted growth curve modeling with data collected from 192 participants in an online breast cancer support group within the Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS) during a 24-week intervention period.

RESULTS: Individual expression of emotional support tends to increase over time for the first 12 weeks of the intervention, but then decrease slightly with time after that. In addition, we found that age, living situation, comfort level with computer and the …

Acute Alcohol Consumption Impairs Controlled But Not Automatic Processes In A Psychophysical Pointing Paradigm., Kevin Johnston, Brian Timney, Melvyn A Goodale

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Numerous studies have investigated the effects of alcohol consumption on controlled and automatic cognitive processes. Such studies have shown that alcohol impairs performance on tasks requiring conscious, intentional control, while leaving automatic performance relatively intact. Here, we sought to extend these findings to aspects of visuomotor control by investigating the effects of alcohol in a visuomotor pointing paradigm that allowed us to separate the influence of controlled and automatic processes. Six male participants were assigned to an experimental "correction" condition in which they were instructed to point at a visual target as quickly and accurately as possible. On a small …

Language, Reading, And Math Learning Profiles In An Epidemiological Sample Of School Age Children., Lisa M D Archibald, Janis Oram Cardy, Marc F Joanisse, Daniel Ansari

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Dyscalculia, dyslexia, and specific language impairment (SLI) are relatively specific developmental learning disabilities in math, reading, and oral language, respectively, that occur in the context of average intellectual capacity and adequate environmental opportunities. Past research has been dominated by studies focused on single impairments despite the widespread recognition that overlapping and comorbid deficits are common. The present study took an epidemiological approach to study the learning profiles of a large school age sample in language, reading, and math. Both general learning profiles reflecting good or poor performance across measures and specific learning profiles involving either weak language, weak reading, weak …

Differential Effects Of Parkinson's Disease And Dopamine Replacement On Memory Encoding And Retrieval., Alex A Macdonald, Ken N Seergobin, Adrian M Owen, Ruzbeh Tamjeedi, Oury Monchi, Hooman Ganjavi, Penny A Macdonald

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Increasingly memory deficits are recognized in Parkinson's disease (PD). In PD, the dopamine-producing cells of the substantia nigra (SN) are significantly degenerated whereas those in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are relatively spared. Dopamine-replacement medication improves cognitive processes that implicate the SN-innervated dorsal striatum but is thought to impair those that depend upon the VTA-supplied ventral striatum, limbic and prefrontal cortices. Our aim was to examine memory encoding and retrieval in PD and how they are affected by dopamine replacement. Twenty-nine PD patients performed the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) and a non-verbal analogue, the Aggie Figures Learning Test …

Report Of A Deaf Child With Tourette's Disorder., Cathy J Chovaz

Psychology

This is a case study of a deaf child with Tourette's Disorder (TD). Hearing parents and mental health clinicians unfamiliar with typical behaviors of deaf children may have difficulties differentiating the clinical presentation of symptoms of TD from the effects of deafness, as well as in implementing appropriate interventions. This case study reports the history, symptoms, diagnostic process, and treatment interventions. This is relevant for furthering the clinical knowledge of mental health professionals working with Deaf, deaf, and hard-of-hearing children and adolescents.

The Bodily Experience Of Cerebral Palsy: A Journey To Self-Awareness., Laura K Brunton, Doreen J Bartlett

Physical Therapy Publications

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to describe the lived bodily experience of cerebral palsy (CP).

METHOD: This was a descriptive phenomenological inquiry. Ten participants were interviewed about their bodily experiences of living with CP. Interviews were semi-structured around pain and fatigue. Inductive thematic analysis was used to identify themes.

RESULTS: The bodily experience of CP centered on issues of fatigue and pain as a feeling of muscle soreness. An overwhelming amount of the discussion on fatigue emphasized the fatigue that occurs with walking and prolonged activity. Self-awareness of the individuals' own bodies and adapting activity to continue to …

Willingness To Undergo A Repeat Liver Biopsy Among Hiv/Hepatitis C Virus-Coinfected And Hepatitis C Virus-Monoinfected Patients, Valerianna K Amorosa, Omowunmi Aibana, Norah J Shire, Zachariah Dorey-Stein, Thomas Ferrara, Joanne Gilmore, Jay R Kostman, Vincent Lo Re

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Guidelines for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) management have recommended that a liver biopsy be repeated at 3-year intervals for HIV/HCV-coinfected patients and 5-year intervals for those with HCV monoinfection to assess fibrosis progression. However, it is unclear if patients are willing to repeat this procedure.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence and factors, particularly HIV coinfection, associated with willingness to repeat a liver biopsy.

METHODS: A questionnaire was administered to 235 HCV-infected patients (113 with HIV coinfection) between January 2008 and June 2011 who previously underwent liver biopsy. The main outcome was self-reported willingness to repeat the biopsy. The …

Lead-Based Paint Awareness, Work Practices, And Compliance During Residential Construction And Renovation, James D. Blando, Nickita Antoine, Daniel Lefkowitz

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently implemented the Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) rule that applies to pre-1978 residences because of the potential presence of lead-based paint. Enforcement of this rule may be difficult and therefore it is crucial to understand the awareness and beliefs of contractors and the general public because these will likely be major determinants of exposures resulting from residential renovation work. The study described in this article utilized two mailed surveys: one directed to the general public and the other directed to contractors. The surveys were conducted in New Jersey and Virginia. Field observations were also …

Predicting Barriers To Primary Care For Patients With Disabilities: A Mixed Methods Study Of Practice Administrators, Jennifer Renee Pharr, Michelle Chino

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

Background. People with disabilities continue to be identified as a group who experience disparate health/health care. They are less likely to engage in some health care services. Structural barriers are often identified as one of the reasons for the underutilization of some health care services by people with disabilities. However, to date no study has been conducted to understand why structural barriers persist twenty years after the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law.

Objectives. We examined the relationship between primary care practice administrators’ knowledge of the ADA and the number of accessibility barriers that patients with mobility disabilities might …

Delivering Genetic Education And Genetic Counseling For Rare Diseases In Rural Brazil, A.X. Acosta, K Abe-Sandes, R Giugliani, Alan H. Bittles

Research outputs 2013

Brazil is the largest country in Latin America, with an ethnically diverse, Portuguese-speaking and predominantly Roman Catholic population of some 194 million. Universal health care is provided under the Federal Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde) but, as in many other middle and low income countries, access to medical genetics services is limited in rural and remote regions of the country. Since there is no formally recognized Genetic Counseling profession, genetic counseling is provided by physicians, trained either in medical genetics or a related clinical discipline. A comprehensive medical genetics program has been established in Monte Santo, an inland …